The computer apparatus and methods of the preferred embodiment uses computer technology in a unique way to motivate children to devote more time to educational and cultural enrichment. In the preferred embodiment, educational material is provided at a child's local computer under control of a central computer system connected to it over a computer network. On completing a particular educational task, the child is rewarded with a certain number of points. Points that the child accumulates are stored centrally, and at least some of the points can be redeemed towards the purchase of goods and services offered through the system of the preferred embodiment by its commercial participants. The purchasing transactions are also administered by the central computer. Parents, preferably, use the system to support their children's purchasing activity financially and to select content available for presentation to the child. In other embodiments, the disclosed apparatus and methods can be used for purposes unrelated to education of children, and distribution of functionality between the central and local computers may be different, including wholly local implementations.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. A computer-implemented method comprising: receiving viewing preferences including categories of educational content, from an educational presentations library, allowed for presentation to a first child account and advertisement preferences including categories of advertising allowed for presentation to the first child account, wherein the viewing preferences and the advertisement preferences are specified from a first parent account of the first child account; determining, by a computing device, a content selection based on the viewing preferences; determining an advertisement based on the advertisement preferences; presenting the content selection to the first child account; presenting the advertisement to the first child account concurrently with the content selection; providing financing from the first parent account to the first child account in response to presenting the advertisement; receiving educational content from the first parent account; and including the educational content received from the first parent account into the educational presentations library for selectable presentation to the first child account and a second child account of a second parent account.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the content selection and the advertisement are presented concurrently.
3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: providing the first child account access to the content selection in response to receiving the financing from the first parent account.
4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: presenting reward data associated with the content selection to the first child account based on the viewing preferences and the advertisement preferences specified by the first parent account.
5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising: storing the reward data associated with the content selection in response to presenting the content selection to the first child account.
6. A system, comprising: means for receiving viewing preferences including categories of educational content, from an educational presentations library, allowed for presentation to a first child account and advertisement preferences including categories of advertising allowed for presentation to the first child account, wherein the viewing preferences and the advertisement preferences are specified from a first parent account of the first child account; means for determining, by a computing device, a content selection based on the viewing preferences; means for determining an advertisement based on the advertisement preferences; means for presenting the content selection to the first child account; means for presenting the advertisement to the first child account concurrently with the content selection; means for providing financing from the first parent account to the first child account in response to presenting the advertisement; means for receiving educational content from the first parent account; and means for including the educational content received from the first parent account into the educational presentations library, for selectable presentation to the first child account and a second child account of a second parent account.
7. The system of claim 6 , further comprising means for presenting the content selection and the advertisement concurrently.
8. The system of claim 6 , further comprising: means for providing the first child account access to content selection in response to receiving the financing from the first parent account.
9. The system of claim 6 , further comprising: means for presenting reward data associated with the content selection to the first child account based on the viewing preferences and the advertisement preferences specified by the first parent account.
10. The system of claim 9 , further comprising: means for storing the reward data associated with the content selection in response to presenting the content selection to the first child account.
11. An article of manufacture including a tangible computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon, that in response to execution by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising: receiving viewing preferences including categories of educational content, from an educational presentations library, allowed for presentation to a first child account and advertisement preferences including categories of advertising allowed for presentation to the first child account, wherein the viewing preferences and the advertisement preferences are specified from a first parent account of the first child account; determining, by a computing device, a content selection based on the viewing preferences; determining an advertisement based on the advertisement preferences; presenting the content selection to the first child account; presenting the advertisement to the first child account concurrently with the content selection; providing financing from the first parent account to the first child account in response to presenting the advertisement; receiving educational content from the first parent account; and including the educational content received from the first parent account into the educational presentations library for selectable presentation to the first child account and a second child account of a second parent account.
12. The article of manufacture of claim 11 wherein the content selection and the advertisement are presented concurrently.
13. The article of manufacture of claim 11 , wherein the operations further comprise: providing the first child account access to content selection in response to receiving funds from the first parent account.
14. The article of manufacture of claim 11 , wherein the operations further comprise: presenting reward data associated with the content selection to the first child account based on the viewing preferences and the advertisement preferences specified by the first parent account.
15. The article of manufacture of claim 14 , wherein the operations further comprise: storing reward data associated with the content selection in response to presenting the content selection to the first child account.
Cooperative Patent Classification codes for this invention. Click any code to explore related patents in that topic.
November 24, 2010
March 18, 2014
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